Reclining chair of multi-action type



Dec. 26, 1961 L. PILCHER ET AL 3,014,757

RECLINING CHAIR OF MULTI-ACTION TYPE Filed Aug. 12, 1959 HIGH BACKRESTELEVATION 3 L,

FIG. I BACKREST I-:/ I SEAT 4 I m"; L TOPSEAT LEvELs I ACTUATING LINK I8KIDNEY ROLL 28 I I SEAT HARDWARE 9 BACKREST I I HARIIJSWARE I BOTTOMSEAT LEVEL 5 I I SUPPORT v' HARD-,WARE SUPPORT I -BA$E LEvEL 2a P'VOT--LOW BAGKREST ELEV. 2

LEGREST HARDWARE 22 FIXED KIDNEY ROLL ms 30 ACTUATING LINK l8 IKIDNEYROLL HARDWARE MEMBER 2? FIRST CHAIR LINK BACKREST PIVOT I? SECONDLEGREST LINK 26 MID- FRONT S\EAT PIVOT I FIRST LEGREST LINK 24 FIRSTCHAIR LINK 23 INVENTORg LAWRENCE PILCHER NORMAN L. PILCHER BY mmATTORNEY FRONT SUPPORT PIVOT ll nite tates The present invention relatesto reclining chairs of the multi-action type.

In all recliners, i.e., reclining chairs, presently available on thecommercial market, the backrest is pivoted for reclining movement aboutan axis located adjacent the rear end of the seat. With this pivotalarrangement, when the backrest is made long enough to support the headof the occupant in the reclining position, it stands too high in theupright position giving the chair the unattractive appearance of beingout of proportion. It has been proposed to overcome this objection by 1)lowering the upright backrest as a whole, (2) pivoting it on an axislocated substantially below the rear end of the seat and (3) providingmeans for rendering the upper end of the backrest eifective, whenreclined, to support the head of the occupant, this being done either byraising the backrest or by lowering the rear end of the seat to therequisite degree. None of these proposed arrangements has provensatisfactory. The first arrangement requires the backrest to be raisedeither while the chair is occupied which is difiicult or after the chairhas been vacated which is objectionable. The second arrangement issubject to the obvious objections of lowering the occupant as the chairis reclined and of supporting a reclining occupant at an uncomfortablylow level.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a recliner, of thetype having its backrest pivoted on an axis located substantially belowthe rear end of the seat, with means for eifectively and comfortablysupporting the occupant of the chair as it is being reclined withoutrequiring the backrest to be raised or the rear end of the seat to belowered.

Another important object is to accomplish the principal object by simpleand inexpensive means.

Our invention may be carried out by (l) lowering the upright backrest asa whole, (2) pivoting it on an axis located substantially below the rearend of the seat for reclining movement away from the rear end of theseat so as to cooperate therewith in forming a progressively wideninggap during the reclining movement and (3) providing relatively movablebody supporting means for bridging this gap. In carrying out theinvention, we mount a body supporting member or kidney roll adjacent therear end of the seat and arrange it for coordinated movement into andout of the gap between the seat and the backrest as the backrest isreclined and returned to an upright position. With this arrangement, itis unnecessary to move the rear end of the seat either rearwardly ordownwardly as the backrest is reclined. While the seat as a whole couldremain stationary, we prefer to mount its rear end upon a fixed axis andto rock the seat about that axis between horizontal sitting andforwardly inclined positions.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a reclining chair in an upright sittingposition and embodying the present invention with the chairs backrest,seat and legrest being shown in dotted lines, its base frame beingomitted and a portion of its backrest being broken away;

FIG. 2 is a slide elevation similar to FIG. 1 showing the chair in apartially reclined position; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevation showing the chair in a fully reclinedposition.

; atent C ice Reclining chairs may be conventionally constructed: (a) assingle action chairs wherein only the backrest moves; or (b) as 2-actionchairs wherein only the backrest and the seat or the backrest and thelegrest move; or (c) as 3-action chairs wherein the backrest, seat andlegrest all move in coordianted fashion. The present invention isapplicable to any reclining chair of the single or multiple action typehaving a backrest which opens a gap between it and the rear end of theseat as the back rest is reclined.

The chair illustrated in the drawing is a 3-action chair without anextensible-retractable legrest and a 4-action chair with it. Itconventionally includes a base frame which is not shown and otherwiseconventionally comprises: (a) a movable backrest 1 extending from a lowelevation 2 to a high elevation 3; (b) a. relatively movable seat 4extending at a relatively intermediate elevation, the seat having levelsranging from the bottom level 5 of the lower end of its frame, up to thetop level 6 of its upper seating face, which is also designated 6; (c) ahorizontally elongate supporthardware member 7 adapted to be mounted onthe base frame of the chair to extend at a level adjacent the bottomseatlevel 5; (d) a horizontally elongate seat hardware member 9; a rearseat pivot 10 pivotally interconnecting the rear ends of the seat andsupport hardware members 9 and 7 at a level adjacent the bottom seatlevel 5; (e) means supporting the front end of the seat 4 on the frontend of the support hardware in a manner accommodating the swingingmovement of the seat about its rear seat pivot 10, said supporting meansincluding at least two tandem links 12 and 13 interconnecting a pivot 11on the front end of the support with a pivot 14 on the mid-front portionof the seat hardware 9, the links 12 and 13 forming an inverted Vlinkage wherein link 13 extends from the front support pivot 11 upwardlywhere it connects with link 14 which extends downwardly to the mid-frontseat pivot 14; (f) a vertically arranged backrest hardware member 16extending from the low backrest elevation 2 upwardly to the highbackrest elevation 3; a low backrest pivot 17 pivotally supporting thelower end of the backrest on the rear end of the support hardware 7 atthe base level 2a; and linkage means interconnecting the backresthardware member 16 and the seat hardware member 9 to compel theircoordinated movement between positions corresponding to the upright andreclining positions of the chair, this linkage means being in the formof an inverted V linkage including an elongate actuating link 18 pivotedto backrest member 16 in the vicinity of the bottom seat level andextending elongately forward therefrom with its front end pivotallyconnected to a rearwardly declined link 19 which is not only pivoted tothe mid-front seat pivot 14 of the seat hardware member 12 but alsowelded or otherwise rigidly connected to tandem link 13. It should beunderstood that the chair will contain one set of hardware on each ofits sides.

The chair illustrated in the drawing may also include a legrestassembly. This legrest assembly conventionally includes: a legrest 21; alegrest hardware member 22; and a Dove linkage mounting the legresthardware member 22 on the seat hardware member 9 for extension andretraction between a retracted upright position and aforwardly-extended, relatively-elevated reclined position, said Dovelinkage being composed of (l) a first V extending from the seat hardwaremember 9 to the legrest hardware member 22 and including a first chairlink 23 which is pivoted at its upper end to the seat hardware, and afirst legrest link 24 which is pivoted at its lower end to the lower endof the chair link 23 and at its upper end to the upper end portion ofthe legrest hardware 22; and (2) a second V also extending from the seathardware 9 to the legrest hardware member 22 and including a secondchair link 25 3 which is located on the front side of the first chairlink 23, pivoted at its upper end to the seat hardware member 9 and alsopivoted intermediate its ends to an intermediate portion of the firstlegrest link 24, and a second legrest link 26 pivoted at its lower endto the lower end of the second chair link and at its upper end to thelower portion of the legrest hardware member 22.

By using the mid-front seat pivot 14- as a pivot for the first chairlink 23 and by connecting the first chair link 23 rigidly to link 19 ofthe actuating linkage (i.e. the inverted V linkage, which connectsthrough actuating link 18 with the backrest hardware member at the seatlevel), the legrest assembly will operate coordinately with thebackrest. While the Dove linkage" is mounted on the seat, it may bemounted on the support or on both with one chair link on the seat andthe other on the support. Naturally, all hardware is preferably composedof metal.

In operation, it will be seen that as the backrest l is swung rearwardlyit will. through the actuating linkage (18, 19) swing the first chairlink 23 of the Dove linkage to actuate the legrest assembly. At the sametime, it will swing link 13, of the inverted V- seat-support linkage(13, 12), to actuate the seat hardware member 9 upwardiy about its rearpivot 10. It will be observed that, during full extension, the rearpivot 18 does not move rearwardly at all while'the rear upper corner ofthe seat at the top seat level moves rearwardly to a very slight degree.At the same time, the backrest hardware member 16 swings substantiallyrearward about its pivot 17 and thus opens a large gap in the supportingsurface of the chair between the upper rear corner of the seat and theadjacent portion of the backrest.

In accordance with our invention, we maintain this gap closed andprovide a body support across it by a structure comprising: a kidneyroll 28; and second hardware. means including means mounting said kidneyroll adjacent the rear end of the seat for movement into said gap andlinkage means interconnecting the kidney roll mounting means with thefirst hardware means (which supports the backrest and seat andinterconnects them and the support), to effect the gap bridging movementof the kidney roll coordinately as the chair is reclined.

While the kidney roll may be mounted on the seat, backrest or supportfor slidable or other movement into its gap bridging positions, itpreferably is mounted on the seat for pivotal movement to and from itsgap bridging positions. Accordingly, the second hardware mounting meansincludes: a kidney roll hardware member 29, which extends vertically inthe upright position of the chair; and means pivoting the upper end ofthe kidney roll hardware member 29 to the seat hardware 9 for swingingmovement about a fixed axis 38 extending along the top seat level 6adjacent the upper rear end of the seat. In the retracted position ofthe chair, kidney roll 28 and its hardware member 29 will dependdownwardly from the kidney roll pivot 30. r

In the second hardware means, the linkage means may interconnect thekidney roll 28 with any suitable movable member, in the first hardwaremeans, which is operative to swing said kidney roll rearwardly upwardabout the axis 30 coordinately as the chair is reclined. While this maybe readily accomplished by any of a variety of linkages, in thestructure illustrated, it is easily, simply and effectively accomplishedby linking the lower end portion of kidney roll hardware member 29 withactuating link 18 through link 31 which is pivotally connected to both.

Having described our invention we claim:

1. A reclining chair of the multi-action type comprising: a seat; abackrest; a support; first hardware means, including stationary andmovable parts, mounting said seat and backrest on said supoprt, thebackrest being mounted for movement from an upright position to areclined position durnig which the backrest moves relatively away fromthe rear end of the seat so as to widen a gap between the backrest andthe rear end of the seat; a kidney roll;

and second hardware means including means mounting said kidney rolladjacent the rear end of the seat for movement into said gap and linkagemeans interconnecting the kidney roll with a movable part of said firsthardware means to effect the gap bridging movement of the kidney rollcoordinately as the chair is reclined.

2. The chair of claim 1 wherein: said kidney roll is mounted forswinging movement about an axis extending adjacent the rear end of saidseat.

3. The chair of claim 2 wherein, in the upright position of thebackrest: said kidney roll extends downwardly; and said axis is adjacentthe upper end of said kidney roll.

4. The chair of claim 2 wherein: said kidney roll mounting meansincludes a pair of opposed pivotal connections between the seat-mountinghardware and the kidney roll-mounting hardware, said connections beinglocated at opposite sides of the chair in axial alignment with eachother to provide said axis about which the kidney roll swings.

5. The chair of claim 2. wherein: said interconnecting linkage means isoperative to swing said kidney roll rearwardly upward about the saidaxis to bridge said gap coordinately as the chair is reclined.

6. Hardware for a reclining chair of a multi-action type having abackrest which, as it moves to a reclining position, also movesrelatively away from the rear end of the seat so as to widen a gapbetween the backrest and the rear end of the seat, comprising: a supporthardware memher; a seat hardware member; a backrest hardware member;hardware mounting means mounting the backrest and seat hardware memberson-the support hardware member for backrest movement between upright andreclined positions and for coordinated seat movement between horizontaland forwardly inclined positions, said seat member moving about a firstpivot on its rear end portion; a kidney roll hardware member pivoted tothe rear end of said seat hardware member for swinging movement about arear axis extending at a level higher than that of said first pivot; andmeans interconnecting said kidney roll hard ware member and saidhardware mounting means to swing said kidney roll member rearwardlyupward about said elevated rear axis coordinately as the chair isreclined.

7. Hardware for a reclining chair of a multi-action type, having, .in aposition corresponding to the upright position of the chair, a seatextending horizontally between spaced top and bottom seat levels and anupright backrest which, as it movesto a reclining position, also movesrelatively away from the rear end of the seat so as to widen a gapbetween the backrest, and the rear end of the seat, comprising:horizontal support and seat hardware members having their rear endspivotally interconnected through a rear seat pivot adjacent said bottomseat level and their front end portions interlinked by means supportingthe front end portion of the seat hardware member on the front endportion of the support hardware member when the chair is upright andpermitting the front end of the seat to swing a limited distanceupwardly about said rear seat pivot as the chair is reclined; an uprightbackrest hardware member having an elevated section adjacent said bottomseat level and its lower end pivoted to the rear end of said support ata base level substantially below the level of said rear seat pivot sothat said elevated section will move rearwardly away from said seatmember as said backrest member is reclined; linkage meansinterconnecting said elevated backrest section with the front endportion of the seat member; said backrest member from its base levelsupport pivot to its upper section, said interconnecting linkage meansfrom the upper backrest section to the front end portion of the seatmember and the said seat member from its front end portion to its rearsupport pivot, cooperatively constitutinga constrained linkage whichinsures the coordinated movement of said backrest and seat members; akidney roll hardware member extending upwardly when the backrest isupright with its upper end pivoted to the rear end of the seat hardwaremember at a level adjacent the top seat level; and means interconnectingsaid kidney roll hardware member with said constrained linkage to swingsaid kidney roll hardware memher about its pivot coordinately with saidseat and backrest.

8. The hardware of claim 7 wherein the interconnecting linkage means ofsaid constrained linkage includes an actuating link pivoted to saidelevated backrest section and extending forwardly therefrom.

9. The hardware of claim 8 wherein the means interconnecting said kidneyroll hardware member With said constrained linkage includes a linkextending between the kidney roll hardware member and said actuatinglink and pivotally connected to both.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS MayDec. 12, 1889 McNamara et a1 June 4, 1907 Rilling May 7, 1912 TravisMar. 2, 1954 Ducrot May 22, 1956 Conner July 14, 1959 Belisle Jan. 26,1960

